Thread advancing, storage, and stretching reel



April 1948. R. A. OCONNELL, JR v 2,439,903

THREAD ADVANCING, STORAGE, AND STRETCHING REEL Filed Dec. 6, 1946' 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR R.A.O'CONNELL I ,Q 1 2014 BY 7,, firawzlu ATTORNEY- April 1948. R. A. o CONNELL, JR 2,439,903

THREAD ADVANCING, STORAGE, AND STRETCHING REEL Filed Dec. 6, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 R'.A.O'CONNELIL fl 1- m 7 BY 2? w W ATTORNEY A ril 2a, 1948.

R. A. OCONNELL, JR

THREAD ADVANCING, STORAGE, AND STRETCHING REEL Filed Dec. 6, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR R.A O'CONNELL ATTORNEY 7 April 20, 1948. R. A. OCONNELL, JR I 2,439,03

THREAD ADVANCING, STORAGE, AND STRETCHING REEL Filed Dec. 6, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 9 INVENTOR. R.A.O'CONNELL ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 20, 1948 THREAD ADVANCING, STORAGE, AND STRETCHING REEL Richard A. (BCo'nnell, Jr., Berkeley, Calif assignor to United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture Application December 6, 1946, Serial No. 714,597-

Claims.

.(Granted under the act of amended April 30, 1928;

1 This application is made under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended by the act of April 30, 1928, and the invention herein described, if patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of 5 on the reel, and also while the reel is in motion. America, for governmental purposes without the The invention will now be described with payment to me of any royalty thereon. reference to the drawings, in which This invention relates to an improved self- Figure 1 is a three-dimensional view of the advancing, winding, and storage reel for threads, reel; 2 yarns, or other continuous filaments. Such reels to Figure 2 is a view of a modified arrangement are customarily used in thechemical or physical for maintaining the belts taut; treatment of filaments, the latter being treated Figure 3 is a view, partly in section, of a device while continuously wound on and travelling for adjusting the support for the belts axially along the axis of the reel. along the reel;

In the manufacture of some synthetic fila- Figure 4 is a vertical section along the line ments it is common practice to subject the fila- 4-6 of Figure 6; ment to a stretching operation, whereby the Figure 5 is a view of spring means to maintain orientation of the chains is affected and the the belts taut; strength of the filament greatly increased. This Figure 6 is a vertical longitudinal view, partly stretching is generally carried out while the conin section, of the reel of Figure 1. tinuous filament is passed from one reel or spool In Figures 1 and 6, shaft i-l', fixed belt supto a second. It is usually a separate operation port 4, axially adjustable belt support 9, worm from treatments such as-washing, bleaching, drygears 6, and belts l3 rotate together about the ing, viscose desulphurization, acetylation and axis of shaft l-l. Disc 3 carrying the worm tanning of protein fibers, and saponification of B5 gear track 3' is fixed on bearing 2, which is sup-' cellulose acetate filaments. ported and maintained stationary in any suitable One object of this invention isto provide a reel manner. Rotatable shaft ll' is supported in which imparts the desired degree of stretch to fixed bearing 2 and is rotated by power supplied the filament wound thereon. in any conventional way.

A further object is a reel which continuously Rigidly fixed on shaft l-l' is the supporting imparts the stretch while the continuous filadisc'fl carrying arms or brackets 5 which extend ment is being subjected to other physical or out over the worm gear track 3'. Each bracket chemical treatment. 5 rotatably supports an axle 1 which is fixed to a Some filaments when stretched develop tenworm gear 6. Six such gears are shown, each of sion, which should be removed before the thread which meshes with the worm gear track 3'. Atis collected. Otherwise the tension developed on tached to each axle l is a. pulley 8. Each of the the spool or collecting device may cause damage pulleys 8 supports and rotates an endless belt l3. to the latter and to the filament. This residual The other end of each belt is supported by a tension in the filament may be removed by alfreely rotating pulley l2 mounted by axle I t on lowing the thread to contract before collection. 0 an arm Ill. Each arm I0 is pivoted at II in aslot The contraction may be allowed to take place in support 9 which constrains the motion of each continuously, and even simultaneously with other arm in a plane parallel to the axis of the shaft operations, such as drying or oiling, by the use of my reel. Support 9 rotates with shaft I-l', being at- The reel comprises a rotary shaft which cartached thereto by a set screw (not shown) or by ries a number of endless belts which are arranged a conventional key and slot. Support 9 is movlongitudinally of the shaft and which rotatewith able longitudinally along shaft l-|'. Upon so and about the axes of the shaft. The filament is moving the support, the ends of arms l0 carrying wound upon and carried by the outer surfaces pulleys l2 are moved toward or away from the of the belts, and is caused to advance by moving shaft l-I'. 1

March 3, 1883, as 370 0. G. 757) the belts longitudinally. By mounting one end of the belt on an adjustable frame which can be moved toward or away from the axis of the shaft, the thread can be stretched or contracted while They also serve as support for guides I 8., When the thread reaches the guides IE it climbs up the guides and off the 'belts. Altematively, guides ll may be attached to the shaft i-l or support 9. Bars ii are preferably placed so that their upper edges support the belts, the belts being in sliding contact therewith. when bars I! are employed it is not necessary to use tensioning springs to keep the belts taut.

In Figure 5 is illustrated a tensioning spring I means to be employed on the device of Figures l and 6. It may also be used, if desired, in conjunction with the belt tautening bar 15 of Figure 2. A spring 23 is attached at one end to an arm I0 and at the other to a flange 24 on the support 9. A spring 23 is provided for each arm I0.

As mentioned above, support 9 is fastened to shaft l-| in such manner. that it can be moved along the shaft, thereby changing the angle which the belts make with the shaft. One apparatus which may be employed to move the support 9 is 5 shown in Figure 3. A key (not shown) on support I rides in a slot 11 in the shaft i-l'. Shaft l-l' is hollow at I ,to receive, loosely, the end of threaded rod 18. By turning nut l9, which rests against the end of the shaft, the position of the rod I8 is determined. Attached to rod 18 is a plate 25 which carries arms 20. Arms 20 are provided with flanges that hook into groove 2| on the support 9, riding freely therein on bail bearings. When rod 18 is moved to the right or left by turning nut It, the support 9 is moved to any desired position. While shaft i-l' and support 9 rotate, the unit comprising l825--20 may be held stationary and nut I! turned. Adjustment can thus be obtained without interrupting the op- 40 eration of the reel Spring 22, attached at one end to shaft I and at the other end to support 9, forces rod i8 into the hollow end i' of shaft i.

Another adjusting means that may be used is I to'thread the end I of shaft i and mount a nut on it that may be brought to bear against support 9. Spring 22 would then be replaced by a compression spring that forces support 8 to the right.

In operation, upon rotating shaft l-l' worm gears 8 whirl around the worm 3', the teeth of the former riding in the grooves of the latter so that rotary motion is applied to the gears. As the gears S revolve the pulleys 8 also revolve, moving the belts longitudinally and in unison. If a thread be led onto the revolving and axially moving belts, it will be wound thereon with no overlapping, each turn being separated from the next by the distance the belts move for each revolution. The degree of stretch or contraction is governed by the distance of spools i2 from the shaft In another embodiment of my invention, not shown in the drawings, the travelling belts are replaced by longitudinally disposed parallel rotating shafts each of which has an external hellcal groove or screw thread in the grooves of which screw thread the filament seats. The filament .thus rides along the reel, axially, in the said grooves. One end of each rotating sh'aft is sup- '10 ported by an arm. In, on support 9. On the other end of each rotating shaft is fixed a pinion gear the axis of revolution of which gear is the axis of revolution of the shaft, The pinion gears mesh with a stationary gear mounted on hearing 2.-

comprising a rotary shaft, 9. number of endless driven belts mounted longitudinally to the shaft, and rotating with said shaft, and providing a plurality of longitudinally extending circumferentially spaced strands moving longitudinally in unison and constituting the thread-supporting surface, .a support mounted to rotate with the shaft, said support carrying a number of worm gears whose axes of rotation are transverse to that of the shaft, a worm wheel the axis of which is that of the shaft, said worm wheel m'eshlng with said worm gears, whereby upon rotating said shaft, support, and worm gears about the axis of said shaft, the worm gears are caused to rotate about their individual axes, each of said worm gears having means for mounting and driving an end of one of said belts, a second support mounted to rotate with said shaft and carrying means for rotatably supporting the other ends of said belts and in which the second support is adjustable longitudinally of said shaft, and in which the said means carried by the second support comprises, for each belt, anarm pivoted at one end upon the second support, and having, adjacent the other end of the arm, means for supporting an end of a belt, whereby upon adjusting the second support longitudinally of the said shaft the arms pivot in unison to adjust the angle between the belts and the shaft, and having means for adjusting the second support longitudinally of said shaft, said means comprising a bracket rotatably supported on a screw mounted on one end of the shaft, one end of said bracket being operatively connected to the second support to adjust the latter longitudinally as aforesaid.

2. In an apparatus for laying up thread in the form of a continuously advancing helix, a rotating cage-like cylinder comprising a, plurality of longitudinally extending circumferentially spaced endless belts having outer strands constituting the thread supporting surface and inner strands closer to the axis of the cage, a rotating shaft, first support means attached adjacent one end of the shaft, a first set of belt-supporting,belt-turning, rollers carried by the first support means, second support means adjacent the other end of, and rotated by,'said shaft, and movable longitudinally of the axis of the shaft, a support arm for each belt pivotedly mounted upon said second support means to turn about an axis transverse to the said shaft, a second set of belt-supporting rollers each roller of which set is supported by one of said support arms, means for rotating the shaft, and for rotating the first set of rollers.

3. The apparatus described in claim 2, indi-' ond support means having a circumferential flange, an arm extending longitudinally of the shaft having one endadiacent said flange in position to move said flange, and thereby said second support means, longitudinally, means for mounting the other end of the arm, comprising a plate to which the arm is attached. means for moving the plate longitudinally of the shaft.

RICHARD A. o'commm, JR.

nwmucns drum The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

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